The world sucks right now, but you've gotta look for the bright spots where you can find them. For example, we're living in an absolute Renaissance for 3.75" o-ring toy soldiers. There are the various Super7 lines, which have the benefit of recognizable licenses, but the indie toy space is full of exciting and creative original concepts. The hook for Operation: Recall is that they've got a bunch of former Hasbro GI Joe employees from the golden age on board to develop concepts, giving this line a built-in pedigree. It definitely feels more like a spiritual successor to ARAH than some of its fellow (also very good!) indie lines, owing to both its behind the scenes bona fides and its willingness to embrace over-the-top designs.
The villains of this world are Orthrus, led by this mysterious masked madman, General Mortífero. Every O:R figure comes with a swell little booklet showing the development of the figure from concept sketches to control art. Interestingly, the initial sketches for Mortífero look closer to Cobra Commander, hood and all, but the final design leans more in Destro's direction, particularly his Iron Grenadiers look--gold mask, black suit, red shoulder cape. It's similar in broad strokes, but with its own unique touches. The gold part of the mask is attached to a black hood, with grilles over the mouth and nose and horrifying bulging bloodshot eyes. We know those are part of his mask because there's an unmasked version coming at some point, and that one has his face painted up like a skull, with slicked back black hair and a splatter of blood. Both looks would be equally at home on a slasher flick killer as on the kingpin of a ruthless terrorist organization.
The General is dressed in a black moto-style jacket, black jodhpurs, and red accessories, with a gold belt buckle bearing the Orthrus logo, which is based on his fearsome visage. His buttons are picked out in gold, because you're getting your money's worth here. The decos on all of these figures are very intricate. All of his clothes are very shiny, giving them the appearance of patent leather. Kinky! Actually, the glossy finish is a feature common to O:R figures and a minor point of contention among collectors. You'll find just as many detractors of the flat, matte finishes on Super7 figures. I see what they were going for, because if you look at old ARAH figures they do have a shine to them, but that was, I believe, a property of the plastics used. General Mortífero almost feels like he's got a clear coat finish, and it seems like it's scratching off in areas with lots of friction, like the waist and shoulders.
He's got the expected articulation for this format, with the addition of swivel wrists, which basically every o-ring line besides Super7's has, although the ones on O:R feel especially smooth. His shoulder articulation is a bit impeded by the design of his jacket and the pauldron, so he can't raise his arms above his head but he can still gesticulate menacingly. The pauldron is soft white plastic painted red, and it's fixed by a tab going into a slot on the torso. You can remove it if you want, but I would suggest undoing the back screw and not just yanking it to avoid stressing the tab. His cape has a wire in the bottom for posing, which will likely also be the case for wave 3's Shhhh and his more dynamic full cape.
In addition to his nifty Orthrus logo base, General Mortífero comes with a gold pistol, a gold dagger in a sheath that plugs into his belt, and his signature weapon, a gold spiked mace. I really like how the cape is the perfect length to conceal his pistol! And the gold mace combines a threatening aura and opulence in a way that seems suited to a South America-based dictator who, let's face it, is probably trafficking drugs to fund his war machine. Headman always had a distinct Bob the Goon aura so in my canon this is his new boss. Unfortunately, and maybe because of the possible clear coat, his hands are very stiff, and working his accessories into his hands was a struggle. They've basically stayed put since I opened him. The sheathed dagger is more of a costume piece than a true accessory.
I want to be very clear about something--it sounds like I have a lot of criticisms of this figure, but every one of them has been addressed in the Wave 2 figures that I have. This is a by-fans, for-fans effort, and I think taking one series to iron out imperfections is a perfectly acceptable learning curve. Since the only media for Operation: Recall is the file cards, these basically live and die on the strength of their design, and General Mortífero is a solid one, even if the execution isn't quite as solid. This is a figure you buy because it looks awesome, but maybe check out one of the A.T.L.A.S. heroes first if you want a general impression of the line.
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